1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information providing method and apparatus, an information display method and a mobile terminal, a program, and an information providing system. More specifically, the present invention relates to an information providing method and apparatus, an information display method and a mobile terminal, a program, and an information providing system that can display more appropriate overlay information.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a technology for capturing an image of an object in the real world using a camera or the like to obtain a captured image as a result, and for displaying various types of information in such a manner that the various types of information is superimposed on the captured image has been coming along. Such a technology is called augmented reality or mixed reality. Note that, hereinafter, information that is displayed so as to be superimposed on a captured image is referred to as “overlay information”. By applying the augmented reality to an electronic device with a display, a user can visually recognize overlay information that is displayed together with a captured image (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-139295).
In order to realize the augmented reality, it is necessary to recognize a position (an image-capture position) at which a camera or the like exists and an image-capture direction. As a scheme for recognizing the image-capture position and the image-capture direction, a scheme (hereinafter, referred to as a “position recognition scheme”) is common, in which the position (the image-capture position) at which a camera or the like exists is recognized using a global positioning system (GPS) or a wireless local area network (LAN), and in which the image-capture direction is recognized using a geomagnetic sensor.